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Sons of the Harpy (episode)
"Sons of the Harpy"http://watchersonthewall.com/first-three-episode-titles-game-thrones-season-5-revealed/ is the fourth episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones. It is the forty-fourth episode of the series overall. It premiered on May 3, 2015. It was written by Dave Hill, and directed by Mark Mylod. Plot Summary In King's Landing In Dorne At the Wall At Winterfell In the Free Cities In Meereen Appearances First * Merchant captain * Obara Sand * Nymeria Sand * Tyene Sand Deaths * Merchant captain * Ser Barristan Selmy Production Cast Starring * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister * Lena Headey as Queen Cersei Lannister * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen * Kit Harington as Jon Snow * Aidan Gillen as Petyr Baelish * Natalie Dormer as Queen Margaery Tyrell * Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon * Carice van Houten as Melisandre * Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly * Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark * Jerome Flynn as Bronn * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei * Dean-Charles Chapman as King Tommen Baratheon * with Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont Guest Starring * Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow * Ian McElhinney as Barristan Selmy * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle * Anton Lesser as Qyburn * Tara Fitzgerald as Queen Selyse Baratheon * Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Lord Mace Tyrell * Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant * Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq * Eugene Simon as Lancel Lannister * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett * Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand * Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand * Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand * Kerry Ingram as Shireen Baratheon * Brenock O'Connor as Olly * Finn Jones as Loras Tyrell * Will Tudor as Olyvar * Gary Pillai as Merchant captain * Christian Vit as Lead Dornish Guard * Josephine Gillan as Marei * Meena Rayann as Meereenese prostitute * Simon Norbury as TBA * Jack Olohan as TBA * Slavko Sobin as Meereenese fighter * Paddy Wallace as Lead Kingsguard * Allon Sylvain as Foreign merchant * Will Fortune as TBA * Rob Brockman as TBA * Daniel Johnson as TBA * Richard Fitzwell as TBA * Ben Yates as TBA * Samantha Bentley as TBA * Xena Avramidis as Whore * Portia Victoria as Brothel Smith Goddess * Em Scribbler as TBA * Rebecca Scott as TBA * Rosie Ruthless as TBA Cast notes * 17 of 28 cast members for the fifth season appear in this episode. * Starring cast members Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund), Conleth Hill (Varys), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar), Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton) and Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell) are not credited and do not appear in this episode. Notes *The episode title is a reference to the Sons of the Harpy, an underground resistance movement opposed to Daenerys Targaryen's rule over Meereen and seeking to restore the Great Masters. The Harpy is the heraldic symbol of the slave-masters in Slaver's Bay, originally a symbol of the old Ghiscari Empire which originally colonized the region thousands of years ago. *Arya Stark, Brienne of Tarth, and House Greyjoy do not appear in this episode. Sansa and Littlefinger appear at Winterfell, but the Boltons remain off-screen, though they are discussed. *This episode marks the on-screen introduction of the Sand Snakes, Oberyn Martell's daughters. They were first mentioned as the "Sand Snakes" two episodes ago by Ellaria to Doran, and Oberyn first mentioned that he had eight daughters in Season 4's "First of His Name". They are called the "Sand Snakes" because "Sand" is the special bastard surname used in Dorne, and "Snakes" for their father's nickname, "the Red Viper". Several of them are the daughters of other women Oberyn encountered in his life, though the younger ones are by Ellaria: even so, because Ellaria Sand was herself a bastard Oberyn could not marry her (it would be marrying beneath his station), but instead he simply lived with Ellaria as his paramour (formal mistress) and treated her as his wife in all but name. *The Iron Bank of Braavos has called in a tenth of the crown's debts. As Davos predicted last season in "The Laws of Gods and Men", the bank wouldn't have as much faith in the Lannisters compared to Stannis after Tywin was dead, so they're starting to put pressure on them. When Eddard Stark first came to King's Landing in "Lord Snow", the crown was already 6 million Gold Dragons in debt, and Littlefinger said that half of it was owed to Tywin Lannister. The novels specified that of the rest of the debt, 2 million was owned to the Iron Bank, and about 1 million to the Faith of the Seven (though the fact that they also owed money to the Faith seems to have been omitted from the TV series). When Tyrion and Bronn found out about the debt in Season 3's "Walk of Punishment", Bronn pointed out that now that Tywin's grandson is the Lannisters' puppet on the Iron Throne, the Lannisters can't pay themselves back the 3 million Tywin lent to Robert. Mace Tyrell reveals in this episode that they can only physically pay back half of the tenth of the debt they owe the Iron Bank: they only physically possessed one twentieth of the money they owe the Iron Bank, which out of 2 million would be 100,000. However, Tywin revealed to Cersei in Season 4's "First of His Name" that wartime spending drastically increased their already significant debts to the Iron Bank to tremendous levels - quite probably more than the 2 million they owed in the novels - so proportionately, that twentieth of the debt they physically possess is probably also larger. **Mace also mentions before being cut off that rebuilding the Royal Fleet after the Battle of the Blackwater significantly added to their debts. This is a nod to a larger subplot in the novels: Cersei grows increasingly annoyed that without the Royal Fleet, the Lannisters have to rely on the Redwyne Fleet under the command of the Tyrells (Houes Redwyne are Tyrell bannermen; Olenna herself was born "Olenna Redwyne"). Therefore, despite the fact that they are already barely able to placate the Iron Bank about their massive debts, Cersei orders a new Royal Fleet to be constructed - a huge expenditure, made at kingdom-beggaring cost, made primarily because she is paranoid about being too reliant on the Tyrells. *There may be too many Kingsguard in this episode. There are only supposed to be seven Kingsguard at any one time. Jaime is the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and he is in Dorne, and Cersei says she is sending Ser Meryn Trant to escort Mace Tyrell to Braavos. Previously, when Myrcella was sent away to Dorne by boat in Season 2's "The Old Gods and the New", a Kingsguard was sitting on the boat next to her —in the novels, he was Ser Arys Oakheart. Yet, when Tommen tries to visit the High Sparrow, there are five Kingsguard with him. These five plus Jaime, Meryn, and Arys make eight, not seven. Still, it is possible that in the show Ser Arys left Dorne after escorting Myrcella there. *Ser Barristan Selmy does not die in the novels, and in fact lives to become a minor protagonist with his own chapters by the end of the fifth novel and at least in the beginning of in the upcoming sixth novel. However, in this episode he is killed while fighting the Sons of the Harpy. *The previous High Septon has been replaced by the so-called High Sparrow as the new High Septon, due to Cersei's machinations. A quirk of the office is that when someone becomes High Septon they give up their entire name, and it is forbidden to refer to them by it - which does make people confused in-universe when they try to discuss different High Septons. Everyone tends to still refer to the new High Septon (the third in the TV series) by his nickname, "the High Sparrow". *The conversation between Cersei and the High Sparrow in the novel goes the other way around: the High Sparrow is the one who brings up the subject of restoring the Faith Militant. He tells Cersei about how much the smallfolk and members of the Faith have suffered during the war. She has no sympathy for the rape victims, and even internally muses that half of the septas must be yearning to be raped. Finally, she reaches an agreement with the High Sparrow: King Maegor's laws disbanding the Faith Militant will be cancelled by royal decree, and in return the High Septon will acknowledge Tommen as king and forgive the Crown's debt to the Faith (nearly one million Gold Dragons). In the TV version, apparently Cersei accurately surmised that the attacks on clergy in the chaos of the war are something that the High Sparrow would be worried about - she doesn't care, she's bringing it up to manipulate him, hoping to gain new allies in the Faith. *The Faith of the Seven in the novels does not treat homosexuality as a particularly severe offense, and there are no significant secular laws against it. The Faith does consider homosexuality a sin, but on the same level as adultery, fathering bastard children, or a clergyman sworn to celibacy secretly having sex with prostitutes. The Sparrows who make up the reborn Faith Militant shout that Loras has "broken the laws of gods and men" and kill two homosexual men they find in a brothel - though the Faith Militant are fanatics and extremists, not representative of the "official" position of the Faith, so they might just be making exaggerated claims. *This is the first mention of Oldtown in the TV series, when Jaime says the trade ship they are on is heading there. Oldtown is actually the second largest city in Westeros, nearly as large as King's Landing, and thousands of years older. It is ruled by House Hightower - Alerie Tyrell, wife of Mace and mother of Loras and Margaery, was herself born Alerie Hightower. *In the novels, Jaime is very conflicted about what he would do if he ever encountered Tyrion again. At points he outwardly says he will kill him, though in his inner thought monologue (not easily translatable on-screen), he is much less certain whether he could actually kill Tyrion. Similarly, Tyrion swore vengeance on his family including Jaime in the novels after it was revealed what really happened to Tysha, but inwardly he notes to himself that while he wants to kill Cersei, he isn't really sure how he'd react if he met Jaime again (though of course, all mention of Tysha was removed when Tyrion killed Tywin). *The novels have not given any significant backstory for Bronn, though sellswords to travel long distances searching for employment. In the TV series, Bronn previously said in Season 1 that he had been north of the Wall, and now in this episode he remarks that he has been to Dorne before - meaning he has been to the northern and southern extremes of Westeros. *Jaime catching a sword with his metal right hand might be a slight nod to a separate moment in the novels: Jaime doesn't go to Dorne, but to the Riverlands, to manage the Freys as they besiege the Tullys at Riverrun. At one point Jaime punches out an obstinate Frey - with his gold hand, severely injuring him, and discovering that the metal hand makes a fairly useful melee weapon. *The dusty feather that Sansa Stark finds on the tomb of her aunt Lyanna Stark was actually left there by King Robert Baratheon in the very first episode of Season 1, "Winter is Coming". The idea the TV writers had was that when Robert was courting Lyanna he'd bring her little tokens like feathers from tropical birds (which they don't have in the North), so when he visited her tomb he left one there for her. No one came into the tombs often, particularly after the castle was burned out, so it simply stayed there for four years. *No mention was made in the novels that Littlefinger was present at the great Tournament of Harrenhal - though he quite probably was, given that he was living with the Tullys at the time, and as he said, everyone was there, it was one of the largest tournaments in living memory. **King Robert said that Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna Stark, which sparked off Robert's Rebellion. Bran Stark previously said that is what happened, and Sansa Stark in this episode reiterates it - though they weren't alive at the time and can only rely on what their parents told them. In Season 4, Oberyn Martell remarked to Tyrion that Rhaegar ran off with Lyanna, forsaking his own sister Elia Martell. Littlefinger explains what an entire massive crowd saw: Rhaegar rode past his own wife and handed a laurel of flowers to Lyanna. *Stannis mentions that "Stone Men" severely afflicted by the Greyscale plague are pushed out to live at the fringes of civilization in the ruins of Old Valyria. In the novels, a large area around the ruins of Chroyane, on the river north of Volantis, is used as essentially a leper-colony for people suffering from Greyscale. There are also vague rumors of men living in the shattered remains of the Valyrian Peninsula, in the ruins of Oros, Tyria, and Old Valyria itself - who might, similarly, be Stone Men pushed to live on the abandoned fringes of civilization - but these rumors are unconfirmed in the novels. In the show, considering Stannis' comments, it seems Valyria is the main place where people afflicted with Greyscale get exiled. **The novels never specifically explained how Shireen got Greyscale - it is just common in cold damp climates, like the drafty coastal castle she grew up in. The story Stannis relates in this episode plausibly could have happened, though, and Stannis's actions were entirely in keeping with his character (he has an iron will and will break before he gives up, be it on the battlefield or doing everything he can to save his daughter's life). In the novels, when Stannis leaves Castle Black he explicitly orders the men he leaves behind that if he dies fighting the Boltons, he expects them to keep fighting to put Shireen on the Iron Throne. In the books : See: Differences between books and TV series - Season 5#Sons_of_the_Harpy *The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Game of Thrones: ** Chapter 58, Eddard XV: Lord Whent’s tourney at Harrenhal is recounted by a witness: Prince Rhaegar unhorsed Ser Barristan Selmy in the final tilt to claim the champion’s crown, yet all the smiles died when he urged his horse past his own wife, Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty’s laurel —''"a crown of winter roses, blue as frost"— in Lyanna Stark’s lap. * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of ''A Storm of Swords: ** Chapter 42, Daenerys IV: Ser Barristan speaks to Dany of her brother Rhaegar's love for music and the harp. * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Feast for Crows: ** Chapter 2, The Captain of the Guards: The three eldest Sand Snakes —Obara, Nym and Tyene— want to go to war against the Lannisters in retaliation to their father Oberyn's murder. When Obara is questioned on her intentions, to make her point she recounts how Oberyn came to claim her, though her mother protested that she was too young and a girl. Oberyn tossed his spear at Obara's feet and said: "girl or boy, we fight our battles, but the gods let us choose our weapons." He pointed to the spear and then to her mother's tears, and Obara picked up the spear. ** Chapter 12, Cersei III: Cersei consigns Mace Tyrell to a mission away from King's Landing in order to get rid of him for a while, so that she can scheme against the Tyrells more freely. ** Chapter 13, The Soiled Knight: A relative of Prince Doran hatches a plan involving Princess Myrcella in order to bait the Lannisters into a conflict with Dorne, which would force Doran's hand to enter into the war he is trying to avoid. ** Chapter 28, Cersei VI: Cersei duplicitously concedes to the High Sparrow's concerns that the holy men and women need protection, and so she agrees to restore the Faith Militant, which the Targaryens disbanded centuries ago. ** Chapter 32, Cersei VII: Cersei conspires to get rid of Loras Tyrell. ** Chapter 40, The Princess in the Tower: Cersei's Kingsguard arrives in Dorne. * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Dance with Dragons: ** Chapter 3, Jon I: Melisandre tries to get close to Jon Snow, but Jon keeps his distance. Mysteriously quoting Ygritte, Melisandre warns: "You know nothing, Jon Snow". ** Chapter 7, Jon II: Jon refuses to sign a letter requesting support for the Night's Watch until Sam convinces him to do so. ** Chapter 8, Tyrion III: When asked why would he support Queen Daenerys, Tyrion replies it’s for gold and glory, and for hate, "which you would understand if you ever met my sister". ** Chapter 11, Daenerys II: The Sons of the Harpy attack a number of Unsullied on the streets of Meereen, including a loved one of Missandei. Much to Dany's frustration, Hizdahr zo Loraq insists on the reopening of the fighting pits, arguing it is traditional and the only way for the pit fighters to win glory and be remembered. ** Chapter 27, Tyrion VII: Tyrion realizes his abductor is not taking her to Cersei but to Daenerys, and reveals he has figured out he is Jorah Mormont. Since Jorah was working for Varys as well, Tyrion argues they are allies, but Jorah doesn't listen. ** Chapter 33, Tyrion VIII: In Volantis, Tyrion and Jorah take a ship to Meereen. ** Epilogue: The recently chosen Master of Coin is sent to Braavos to negotiate the Crown's debt with the Iron Bank. * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of The Winds of Winter: ** Chapter unknown, Alayne I: Sansa is unsure of Littlefinger's plan, but he insists she can charm her intended. Memorable Quotes Stannis Baratheon: "My father used to tell me that boredom indicates a lack of inner resources." Shireen Baratheon: "Were you bored a lot too?" Melisandre: "You know nothing, Jon Snow." References de:Die Söhne der Harpyie (Episode)